These Arms of Mine

[Niro]

Reasons aside, the day had finally come for Tatsuo. He had devised a plan with Natsumi, and Natsumi with an assistant to make sure the operation went smoothly, to augment his shiin, specifically his temershiin and melashiin. Now, Tatsuo was dressed in a hospital gown within a specially designed operating room in Natsumi's personal realm which was designed as a hospital. It was a much longer operating room than normal with specially designed gurneys that were also quite long. A small crew of lesser assistants were milling about and preparing the room while he also settled in. He channeled a minute amount of chakra and both his temershiin and melashiin spawned from the base of his spine. The thick, long dark purple tentacles were brought forth to their full length and Tatsuo placed them on the tables where they'd be operated on.

It wasn't long before Natsumi came into the room, dressed much differently than normal. She was wearing a set of scrubs with her hair tied and netted back with surgical gloves covering her hands. A surgical mask covered her face as she walked over to the bed he was on. As much as she wanted to show some sort of affection or comfort him, she had a job to do today. She began to attach wires and other devices to him, while she had to wait for her assistant to start the actual surgery, she could at least prep him.

Natsumi began issuing orders to the minor assistants around the room as she prepared the anesthesia. It wasn't the strongest available but between needing Tatsuo somewhat awake to keep his shiin out and numb the pain of operation, it would do the job. She went through the hassle of finding a vein and placing the needle before the man's eyes slowly started to droop closed. The operating table was modified with a lower back cut out to allow her access to where his shiin spawned so that she could work on them without having to have Tatsuo in a compromised position. Now, all she was waiting on was Ume.

351/2000

[Willoria]

Ume herself was dressed differently than normal as well. Her blue hair was pulled back into a single, thick, dutch-style braid to keep it all out of her face and out of her way while she worked. She also wore a simple set of dark scrubs and shoes, along with a medical mask and surgical gloves. She had no form of make-up nor jewelry on. She was functionally a medic today, working on one of her clan members and nothing more, though she had spent much of her day prior asking herself if she was ready to function in such a way towards Tatsuo given their history. It had been years, but she still had to ask herself, would she walk into that room and falter the moment she saw him? Sure, she had seen him that day they had a snowball fight in the mountains and she had chased him, but she still wasn't sure he had recognized him, but this was different, wasn't it?

Rather quickly and through a conversation with Masako she realized she was struggling with the memory of a feeling, not with what was right in front of her. She had been asked to assist with the surgery of a clan member, something she wanted to do and even was studying to do. Nothing should stand in her way. Sure enough, the moment she walked in the room and saw his deep purple shiin laid out on the table and saw the man himself, with Natsumi at his side, she smiled behind her mask.

Before her was her patient, nothing more. The only nerves she felt were the nerves of working on the Tsuchikage of her village, and perhaps an old friend she hadn't seen in years, but the old pain and resentments were hardly an echo. She let out the breath she had been holding and stepped to the table to check her instruments first and make sure she had everything and go through a mental check of herself. All was sanitized and ready, and she looked to Natsumi. "Are we ready?"

[Niro]

Natsumi started the operation by sectioning the first foot of the tip of Tatsuo's temershiin, as the first of the thirteen near tree trunk sized tentacles, into four. Ume and her other assistants would be called over to suction away the blood so she could continue her work. Using her scalpel and other instruments, Natsumi began to fashion the four sectioned pieces of the temershiin tip into a claw like shape that could fold back together into a single tip. The true difficulty in this portion of the procedure was making sure Tatsuo's natural regeneration was not given enough time to kick into and begin to attempt to heal him before they could finalize the modification. Assistants were tasked with constantly making sure the tissue did not begin to stitch itself back together, and, if it did, cut it back down to the point designated by Natsumi.

Following the modification of the tip, the next challenge was implanting a large enough esophagus into the temershiin. No human had one with the specifications required to perform the operation so they had turned elsewhere. Specifically, gigantic snakes. Shinobi had been sent out into some of the most treacherous swamps and tasked with hunting down the largest snakes they could find. Thirteen large enough were procured and by treating them with chakra, they had been altered enough to be able to integrate with human tissue. Pharynxes, larynxes, and vocal cords from recent cadavers had acquired as well and treated as necessary to allow them to also meld properly with the Tsuchikage. Natsumi began the implantation of the organs by first cutting open his temershiin to its center all the way down to where it spawned and would connect his with general digestive system. Her scalpel and other instruments cut through the thick meat of his temershiin as blood was suctioned nearly constantly to provide them with a clear look at where they were operating.

Natsumi began by connecting the esophagus to the lower portion of his own where it would deposit in his stomach and then connected it to the temershiin in a way that would allow the connection to open the moment the organ was spawned. The esophagus would shrink into a thin tube connected to his temershiin sac when it was not inflated and would also enlarge as needed when the shiin was brought forth. Following the successful attachment, Natsumi began to line the esophagus in the middle of the temershiin. Once successful, she folded the temershiin back over and directed Ume to begin stapling and suturing the wound while she fashioned the mouth, vocal cords, pharynx, and larynx into working order.

Once the medical team was sure that the first implantation had taken and was not being rejected by his body, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Although they had sutured and stapled the surgery area, his own body would soon begin to heal itself. The modification to his temershiin was closely monitored as it did so as it was key to allowing the mouths access to anything.

Natsumi had an assistant dab her face for sweat as the team moved onto the first of the twelve melashiin. The process would be a near exactly copy of the temershiin implantation, just twelve times over. Natsumi picked up a clean scalpel and began to cut into the first of the twelve melashiin as the assistants waited with supplies prepared.

569+351=920/2000

SpoilerShow

*Delicate Hands
D-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: Arts of Medicine Concentration
A simple medical jutsu, the user is able to handle things with great care, minimizing the risk of bruising or tissue damage, and also of breaking a delicate object they may be holding. More a passive manner of holding things than an actual jutsu, this technique requires no chakra to use, but by utilizing it, one may handle with even greater care.

*Careful Cut
C-Ranked Iijutsu
Pre-requisite: Chakra Scalpel; 30 Control
While Chakra scalpel is in use, the user is able to precisely control his/her chakra in order to make cuts in patients exactly where they need to be made. This allows the user to separate soft tissues with a brief touch, and, in the case of surgery, allows the user to cut only what needs to be cut, in exactly the way it needs to be cut, ensuring that the user may remove, heal, or focus on only the tissue in question.

*Tissue preservation
B-Ranked Iijutsu
After forming the needed hand seals, the user is able to place a large amount of chakra into a given organ, removed from a fallen shinobi. With this chakra, the cells of the organ will be kept alive for an extended period of time. The user will load it with chakra every day, until the organ in question is implanted. Because of this, until the implantation is complete, the user dedicates one point of stamina to this technique, loading the organ with chakra at the start of every day until the implantation procedure. This may also be used to prevent necrosis in live patients.

*Vital Monitor
C-Ranked Iijutsu
Prerequisite: Diagnosis Technique
During various medical procedures, a Medical ninja is able to use this technique to keep a constant watch on a patients vitals, including but not limited to their O2 levels, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. This allows the medical ninja a chance to stop procedures or respond to patient's needs faster than they otherwise would be able.

*Inhibiting the Inhibitor
A-Ranked Iijutsu
Prerequisite: Extraction Technique; Vital Monitor; Tissue Removal
When a foreign substance or object invades the human body, the immune system responds and attempts to remove the threat. In order to prevent this, doctors (and highly advanced medical ninja) have developed a system to acclimate the body to specific foreign organic substances. After forming the needed hand seals, the user of this technique is able to introduce a set amount of a given organic substance to a patient and to allow their immune system to respond naturally. Through a 2000 word topic, the user will slowly introduce tissue to their chosen target, allowing them to receive it without risk of rejection. This technique is also used to acclimate the patient to bloodline limits, and prevent them from going out of control while the patient attempts to gain skill with them. By using the tissue patch and removal techniques to stop a Bloodline if it shows signs of going out of control in a patient.

*Clamp Technique
D-Ranked Iijutsu
While performing surgery or other types of healing jutsu, the user is able to use his chakra as a makeshift clamp to close off blood vessels which have been cut and prevent further blood loss. Lasts three posts.

*Soften Tissue
C-Ranked Iijutsu
While performing surgery on a patient, the user is able to put chakra within the tissues surrounding the area on which the medical ninja shall be operating. Doing this makes the tissues slightly sturdier and more malleable as well, providing them with a small amount of give before they break and also increasing the amount of pressure they can take before breaking. This technique merely helps minimize the risk of injury to the patient during surgery.

*Tissue Connection
A-Ranked Iijutsu
After placing an organ or a tissue into it's proper place in a patient's body, be it a replacement or an implantation, the user is able to hold their hands over the tissue or organ in question, and connect the various other tissues in the patients body where it needs to be connected. Blood vessels, connective tissues, muscles, etc. will all be correctly hooked up to the organ in question, ensuring that once implanted, it will stay nourished and protected as if it were the body's own. (Note that this does not provide protection against the body's own natural defenses, I.E. the immune system)

*Cellular Regeneration Technique
A-Ranked Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: Mystical Healing Palm Technique; 35 control
Using this technique, the user is able to speed along the healing process by precisely focusing on small clusters of cells, triggering mitosis and allowing tissues to heal more quickly as a result. This lessens the chances of infection, scarring, and opening of the wound, while also repairing damaged tissue in a transplanted organ or the surrounding area. This technique requires three posts to finish, but if this is used post-op, the patient may wake up from the sedation jutsu after the first post of this technique without the severity of trauma they would otherwise have felt (though pain will still occur.)

*Organ Implantation
S-Ranked Iijutsu
Prerequisite: All Other Organ Transplant Archive Jutsu
After all of the preparations have been made on a given patient, The user of this technique is able to actually perform the operation, culminating all of their learned jutsu into one final event through which the patient in question will gain a chance to become much stronger than they were before. By combining all of the techniques they have thus far learned with their own medical skill, the user is actually able to implant organs inside of willing patients, giving them organ-based Kekke Genkai such as that of the Kaguya, or the Chikai.

[Willoria]

When Ume had first been told what they'd be doing, she had kept a brave face on for a little while but had also gone home to shut herself away for awhile and simply weep. She remembered the time and conversations she'd had with Tatsuo when they would discuss the horrors of their clan and how they wished it would change. They had both wanted it to change, and she had once imagined they would spearhead that change somehow. Even with all the chaos and pain that had happened between them, the day he had become Tsuchikage she had inwardly rejoiced thinking he could finally be that change. But hearing of this operation had yet again broken her heart. He had once again become the epitome of something the clan would be proud of. He was violence and horror incarnate and would only become moreso. But even so she had only taken that short time to lament the changes and shut it all away, his life and his plans were no longer her concern nor her business and she couldn't show it. And so it was yet another way that it was a relief when she had walked in and found the pain washed away at the sight of him.

As the operation began and progressed that relief vanished into nothingness, he was merely a patient and she had specific tasks to complete she had to focus on. She stuck to her work, suctioning up blood as asked or other tasks she was given as they came up. Her mind eventually stopped wandering to the past or even to the future. Her questions about who or how to change the clan would be held off until after the operation, her mind had to be focused on the task at hand.

Over the last few years, she'd become much better at focusing on the moment and less at her errant wandering thoughts and emotions.

[Niro]

"Ume, make sure keep an eye on his temershiin and that everything is integrating correctly. I wouldn't doubt his regeneration trying to force it back into one single tentacle; might be best to try healing each individual tip before the whole. If it looks like the modifications have taken to the tips and everything has adapted without rejection, you can start to increase the overall healing on it. The quicker we can stop any bleeding, the better. We still have eleven more of these stupid tentacles to go." Natsumi called out over the bustle of the busy operation room. Other assistants walked back and forth to replenish IV bags or other fluids while more cleaned and renewed instruments as fast as they could. Ume was trusted as Natsumi's number two for this surgery, meaning she was being entrusted with more compared to any singular assistant. She had seen the woman's growth in iijutsu over the last few months first hand and was confident in allowing her to handle the task of making sure Tatsuo was healing correctly. Meanwhile, Natsumi cut deep into the first of the melashiin tentacles and began to section the end off into four tips instead of one.

Using her scalpel and other instruments, Natsumi once more began to fashion the four sectioned pieces of the tentacle tip into the desired shape. Assistants followed after Natsumi made the modifications and made sure the tissue did not begin to stitch itself back together. They had already seen how the temershiin had reacted at first and after success with it, they felt more confident as they pressed onwards. Natsumi began the implantation of the organs by cutting open the melashiin to its center all the way down to where it spawned and would connect his with general digestive system. Her scalpel and other instruments cut through the thick meat of the tentacle as blood was suctioned away from the site to provide them with a clear view of the site.

Natsumi began connecting the esophagus to the lower portion of his own and then connected it to the melashiin. Following the successful attachment, Natsumi began to line the esophagus in the middle of the melashiin. Once successful, she folded the shiin back over and directed Ume to once again begin stapling and suturing the wound while she fashioned the mouth, vocal cords, pharynx, and larynx into working order. Several assistants broke off into a team to make sure the melashiin was taking successfully while Natsumi was provided with a drink and a rag to dab away any sweat. They had finished the first two, now only eleven remained.

Natsumi waited a few minutes before diving into the third tentacle so Tatsuo's body could regenerate some blood. Although they were monitoring him carefully, it was never a bad thing to be too cautious with such a surgery. Once she was sure, Natsumi changed out her gloves for a fresh set and once more delved back into cutting through the melashiin tentacles.

920+501=1421/2000

[Willoria]

"Understood, Natsumi." Ordinarily Ume would have chosen not to speak for fear of even that little bit of speech distracting her. But in the hustle and bustle of what was going on, the simple movement of a nod of the head was likely to be lost and communication was vital at this juncture. Ume knew it was important for Natsumi to know she was heard and her orders followed to the letter, and so Ume would. Her hands soon glowing with the greenish hue of Iijutsu, and of course covered with the required gloves, she'd focus on each part of the newly alter Temershiin to heal each new part before working on healing the shiin as a whole. It was an odd way to think of it, but this method of healing was vital she knew in order to get the healing ability he already had to understand the new shapes and formations should now be considered 'normal'. She handled the shiin carefully and paid them close attention in the healing process, her lavender eyes watching carefully for even a single sign that anything might not be going right.

Only when she was absolutely certain the temershiin had been properly healed, one detail at a time, would she move on to the melashiin when Natsumi was done with one. Every part of the operation was delicate and would have to be done carefully. Natsumi was the primary and she the secondary. Natsumi was most familiar with the changes, and Ume was also intimately familiar with shiin themselves, the knowledge of the two together would serve this operation well and serve the changes to Tatsuo's form very well.

As if the man's living irony in his previous desires to lessen the violence of his clan in comparison to his violent abilities now wasn't bad enough, there now was a new irony in his life. His own operation in the hands of both his current and former lovers, their knowledges the keys to his success. Of course this wasn't a train of thought that was likely to cross Ume's thoughts for some time, until long after the surgery would be complete.

[Niro]

Natsumi looked over at Ume several times over the course of the procedure just in case something did arise and she had to help. She had seen the woman delve into the study of iijutsu in pursuit of healing her clan members and now here she was helping one turn into something that'd scare even the most extreme Akari. She, however, didn't really care about his clan and what they would think. The only clan members she cared for from it were his family and Ume; the others she'd seen were mostly corpses brought in from the Arena or from a night time attack on someone caught out after dark. Natsumi readjusted her focus back to the melashiin tentacle beneath her and where she was cutting into it.

Natsumi continued to cut deep into the melashiin tentacles, when she first began to modify one, and began to section the end off into four tips instead of one. She didn't like doing it as the blood of her husband seeped out over the gloves and was drained away by assistants. She loved the man so being the one to cause such hurt, even if it would be healed, to him hurt her.

Using her scalpel and other instruments, Natsumi fashioned another single tentacle into the four sectioned pieces and then began to shape out the tooth filled mouth and esophagus. Assistants buzzed around her as she finished one modification and began on another, using their own iijutsu to keep the man stable and the surgery going. As more and more tentacles adapted to the modifications and Ume healed them on the follow up, the team overall began to become more confident and were beginning to move with a steady speed. Natsumi continued implantation of the organs by cutting open each melashiin to its center all the way down to where it spawned and would connect his with general digestive system. Her scalpel and other instruments cut through the thick meat of the tentacle as blood was suctioned away from the site to provide them with a clear view of the site.

Natsumi once more began connecting the esophagus to the lower portion of his own and then connected it to the melashiin. Following the successful attachment, Natsumi began to line the esophagus in the middle of the melashiin. Once successful, she folded the shiin back over and directed Ume to once again begin stapling and suturing the wound while she fashioned the mouth, vocal cords, pharynx, and larynx into working order. The assistants broke off into a teams as needed to make sure the melashiin were taking successfully while Natsumi was tended to mid surgery with another dry rag and drink. They had successfully begun to finish up the operation with a majority of the tentacles being modified. Some had attempted rejection but interference by the assistants and Ume had been enough to prevent it from being a failure.

488/1421=1909

[Willoria]

Tatsuo had always been an impressive specimen among his clan, and in these moments that proved all the more true. The passing thought wasn't the idle fancy of a girl mentally cooing over an ex-lover, rather Ume was mentally observing a clanmate as she took part in his care during a precarious procedure. If it was anyone else, perhaps even Kotaru, she would feel far more concerned about the outcome of it. But even as Tatsuo's shiin tried to reject the work and she had to press back against the shiin's natural state her own reactions simply varied from smirks to even small chuckles. If anything, the attempted rejections were small comforts. Even under the changes and medications his body tried to remain in its true state regardless of the changes Natsumi was pressing upon it, the changes Ume was encouraging to remain with her own Iijutsu as she followed along.

No, with any other member of the clan Ume would have been worried about infection and even death. With Tatsuo these worries were hardly a thought and it was an entirely different set of concerns before them. Of course she was sure the healing process would take far more than just their Iijutsu, he'd be in some pain as his body tried to rebel and he would have to take a more proactive approach to maintain these changes afterwards for a time. She was certain of that.

Though still, there was worry. She spared a glance at Natsumi more than once. She knew what it was to love this man, to feel pain for him, and even to cause him pain. Somehow she felt that what Natsumi was going through was even worse. After all, clearly the love between Natsumi and Tatsuo had to be stronger, it had obviously survived so far, and been through so much more.

'And that's enough of that.'

Ume mentally chided herself for the single moment her mind wandered, her lavender eyes quickly going back to their task and her mind briefly flitting back to wondering when she would see Kotaru again before fully focusing on her task. A second lost was one too long here, and she found herself breathing a sigh of relief that it hadn't cost her this time.

[Niro]

Natsumi felt a small amount of relief as she realized they were closing in on the last couple of tentacles to be modified. Several hours had already past and she was beginning to feel the effects of such an intense yet delicate surgery. She was unaware of however he had gotten the idea to graft functional mouths onto his shiin but she wished it the worst. It was one of the more grotesque surgeries of her career and she was glad it was almost over. Summoning the reserves of her strength, she dived back into modifying the remaining tentacles.

Using her scalpel and other instruments, Natsumi dove back into the fray and once more fashioned the tentacle into the four sectioned pieces and then began to shape out the tooth filled mouth and esophagus. She finished one modification and began on another, relying on the iijutsu of the nurses to keep Tatsuo stable and the surgery going smoothly. Natsumi continued implantation of the organs by cutting open each to its center all the way down to where it spawned and would connect his with general digestive system. Her scalpel and other instruments cut through the thick meat of the tentacle as blood was suctioned away from the site to provide them with a clear view of the site.

Natsumi again began connecting the esophagus to the lower portion of his own and then connected it to the melashiin. Following the successful attachment, Natsumi began to line the esophagus in the middle of the melashiin. Once successful, she folded the shiin back over and directed Ume to once again begin stapling and suturing the wound while she fashioned the mouth, vocal cords, pharynx, and larynx into working order on the final shiin tentacle.

Once she placed the last suture and stepped back to allow the assistants to finish up, she fell into one of the chairs in the room and let out a loud sigh of exhaustion.

326+1909=2235/2000

[Willoria]

Ume did her best to give a comforting smile to Natsumi as the other woman stepped back and Ume took over stapling and suturing up the wounds. She knew with the masks and other gear they wore during the surgery that Natsumi wasn't likely to see it, but smiles always gave away other signs and she sincerely hoped that Natsumi would see that at least. She wanted her to know that the healing that was left was in good hands, that she could trust her. But above all, she wanted her to know that she had done well. As Ume focused on healing up the rest of the melashiin from Natsumi's alterations, she knew that Tatsuo would heal up well. She just had to convince these tendrils that this was their new state of being.

Her own research into her clan's unique organs came in handy here, it wasn't as if the organs had thoughts or anything of the sort. Manipulating them was purely medical and no different than manipulating any other organ, but it certainly was easier to do it being a member of the clan. If only because it let the clan feel like their secrets were more safely guarded this way, that only the clan had access to their so-called secrets.

Thoughts of Kotaru floated away as Ume worked, though they were certain to come up again later. But in this moment the work was what was more important. Even thoughts of Tatsuo floated away for it wasn't him that was important, but his organs and their healing.

Once her work was completed Ume would let out a sigh of her own and let her hands fall to her side before turning to look at Natsumi in her chair. "It's done." she said, trying to sound reassuring, though she wasn't sure how reassuring it was that the pair had just turned Natsumi's husband into even more of a monster that was the epitome of what an Akari could be.